Authorities arrested Sabou, editor with the privately owned Niger Search news website and manager of the Mides-Niger news website, on June 10.
Sabou frequently posts political commentary and links to her reporting onAuthorities charged Sabou with “defamation by a means of electronic communication” under Article 29 of Niger’sfor her post, and for a comment made on the post by another Facebook user, Léko told CPJ.
Sabou was placed in pre-trial detention in the civil prison in Niamey; if convicted, she could face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to five million West African francs , according to Léko and the cybercrime law, which CPJ reviewed. “Authorities in Niger should immediately release Samira Ibrahim Sabou and halt their use of the country’s cybercrime law to arrest and detain journalists,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Niger’s cybercrime law is just another disappointing example of the way criminal defamation persists across the continent, in defiance of international standards and African governments’ own commitments to freedom of expression.
CPJ called Sani Issoufou Mahamadou for comment at a phone number provided by someone following the case, but the call did not go through. CPJ could not contact him through Twitter because he did not have direct messaging enabled. Sabou is the president of the local Association of Bloggers for Active Citizenship, previously worked with the government owned Le Sahel and privately owned l’Enquêteur newspapers, and is widely known for her writing on social media, according to Youssoufou.condemning Sabou’s arrest, and restating Niger’s prohibitions on preventive arrests for press violations.
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